There are some 100 private wharves operating in Zamboanga City and all are unmonitored and unregulated by authorities, according to an official.

Chief Insp. Alexander Lorenzo, Field Officer of Philippine Center on Transnational Crimes Western Mindanao, said most of the unmonitored and unregulated private wharves are being used for human trafficking.

Lorenzo said his personnel had interviewed many victims of human trafficking in past years who are rescued in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi by the Bongao Inter-Egency Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force ( BIATFAT ) and other law enforcement agencies and all the victims revealed that before going to Bongao accompanied by their facilitators or illegal recruiters to work in Malaysia, they passed through private wharves in Zamboanga City where authorities won’t notice them.

Lorenzo said private wharves that are unmonitored and regulated should be dismantled and because they are being used for illegal activities and particularly for passage and jumping point of victims of human trafficking.

Meanwhile, Lorenzo is currently facilitating and coordinating with the Naval Forces Western Mindanao Command ( NAVFORWESCOM ) and the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development for the transportation of the 48 persons who were rescued in Bongao on Thursday by the government forces.

The 48 victims were recruited to work at a palm plantation in Malaysia and some of them are minors. – Allen Abastillas